Gausman, Bird’s teammate at Grandview in 2010, ultimately ended up passing up a chance to sign with the Dodgers after he was a sixth-round pick by the team last summer. (Gausman went on to finish 5-6 his freshman season with a 3.51 ERA, and a team-high 86 strikeouts against just 23 walks. He’ll be a rare draft-eligible sophomore in 2012.)

Like Gausman, Bird fell a bit because of the type of money he’s asking for. Bird, the state’s Gatorade player of the year, is seeking a contract more in line with a first-round pick.

He could have gone as high as the second or third round, but went in the fifth round to the Yankees.

“The Yankees are known for spending tons of money in the free agent market, and sometimes that means less money in the draft,” Bird said yesterday. “(But) I don’t think one team is specifically going to spend more money. I think it comes down to the player and how bad they want them.”

Bird didn’t have any predraft workouts, but said the Yankees showed a lot of interest this spring. He even met with the team’s mental-skills coach after one of Grandview’s game this season.

Brady Schofield, who is advising Bird, will help in negotiations, but, Bird said, “We’ll have a lot to do with it, too.”

Bird will play for Team Vegas in the California Collegiate League this summer — just as Gausman did last season. In two games, Bird is 3-for-9 with a triple, four runs scored and an RBI. He’s also walked twice.

As Bird said, he’s in a “win-win” situation. He’ll either join Arkansas’ program that has been to the NCAA postseason 21 times, and is considered an elite program, or become a farmhand of the New York Yankees.

• Bird, on the Yankees: “It’s exciting. There’s still a long way to go. There’s still the possibility of signing or not signing, and then on top of that you have to work hard to get to play for the Yankees. I mean that’s the hardest part.”

• Bird, on Arkansas: “I love the campus down there, I love the school and I love the people. It’s awesome.”

Players have until Aug. 15 to sign contracts.

Logan Moore likely to sign with Phillies.

Logan Moore, the 2009 grad of Mountain View who has signed to play at Tennessee after two years at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, sounded pretty dead set yesterday on signing with the Phillies. Philadelphia drafted the catcher/third baseman in the ninth round.

“(Playing professional baseball) is my ultimate goal, anyway, and the opportunity is right in front of me, so I might as well take it,” he said.

Moore started catching for the first time this season, and it likely helped his draft stock.

“My arm was (a big part of it),” he said. “That’s what the scouts liked.”

“I know they like to draft athletic guys,” Moore added. “I would say I’m pretty athletic for the most part.”

Notes on other draftees.

• Connor McKay, whose stock slipped a bit following an ACL tear that forced him to miss most of his senior season at Regis Jesuit, went in the 24th round to the Rockies. “I love all the Rockies and they’ve been honest with me through the whole process,” he told the Aurora Sentinel. “I have a chance to prove myself and I’m not going to let anybody down.”

• Smoky Hill’s Matt Ogden, the state’s best prep pitcher, went 14 picks earlier in the 24th round to the Diamondbacks. Odgen told the Sentinel that when he was picked, he was on a plane from Michigan, where he was finishing up duties at freshman orientation, to New York, where he’ll play summer ball. (He said later that it was likely he’ll pitch at Michigan.)

• Former Rocky Mountain shortstop Andy Burns, an 11th-round pick of the Blue Jays, is looking for fourth-round money — $250,000 in particular, according to the Fort Collins Coloradoan — to forgo his eligibility at Arizona. Rocky Mountain coach Scott Bullock made it sound like he was going to sign: “He’s ready to give pro baseball a shot.”

• 2008 Eaton grad Kyle Ottoson was scooped up by the Nationals in the 24th round. He told the Greeley Tribune that he’d begin negotiations with the organization after ASU’s season ends. (The Sun Devils just moved to the super regionals.)

• Dexter Price became the first draftee in the three-year history of South Carolina-Beaufort as a Diamondbacks selection in the 30th round. The ’08 grad of Air Academy is “likely” to sign and forgo his senior season, according to the Island Packet of Bluffinton, South Carolina.

Neil Devlin, originally from the Philadelphia area, has covered high school sports in Colorado for more than 30 years, writing about the people, athletes and events that encompass the Rocky Mountain prep sports world.